1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to a tray for holding game pieces which have indicia on only one side thereof, such as domino tiles, Scrabble® tiles or playing cards. (Scrabble® is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc.). And in particular, the present invention relates to a tray for holding game pieces so that the indicia may be viewed. Still more particularly the present invention relates to a tray for holding game pieces so that only one player can view the game piece indicia without requiring the game pieces to be lifted or manipulated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Card games, board games and tile games have been known for many centuries. In such games each player possesses and uses a group of cards, game pieces or tiles which typically include numeric or other indicia on only one side thereof and wherein each player typically attempts to view such indicia without revealing those indicia to his or her opponents.
Various games, such as domino games double six, nine, twelve, 42, Chicken Foot or MahJong, require a player to utilize and manipulate a large number of tile pieces. As players become older and less physically coordinated the necessity of repeatedly lifting and manipulating the game pieces to examine the numeric indicia becomes more and more burdensome. Additionally, less accurate short term memory skills make such examinations more frequent among older players.
Examples of racks or trays for holding playing cards or game pieces may be seen in U.S. Design Pat. No. 188,859, U.S. Design Pat. No. 248,332 and U.S. Design Pat. No. 262,727. Additionally, utility patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,749,653 and 6,168,156 disclose various stands or trays which may be utilized to hold game pieces or cards.
Upon a review of these existing game piece trays it should be apparent that a device which supports game pieces or tiles in a way which permits only the players sitting near those game pieces or tiles to see the indicia on those game pieces or tiles, without requiring physical manipulation of the game pieces or tiles would be a great advance in such leisure activities.